Roast Guinea Fowl With Cabbage: A Dutch Oven Delight

Frontier Bushcraft team member Iain Gair first introduced this recipe to other members of the team as a campfire cookery treat. We'd spatchcocked guinea fowl many times, particularly in the summer months when this type of open-fire cooking works very well. Roast guinea fowl in a Dutch oven was a new one on us when Iain brought it to the table, so to speak.

Based on a recipe from Stéphane Reynaud's book Rôtis, this dish quickly became a team favourite. It's a truly flavoursome roast that is suitable for whenever you fancy but particularly suited to those cooler evenings in the Spring and early Autumn, when the Dutch oven comes into its own for campfire roasting.

Iain says "The guinea fowl recipe is a firm favourite for me. Like all great cooking, it contains simple ingredients. The combination of the flavours produce a wonderful dish. Typically French, it contains the essentials - butter, garlic and wine. There is no complex or fiddly preparation, which makes it ideal for campfire cooking. Minor adjustments can be made from the original recipe from Stephane Reynaud without detracting too much from the intended result. However, it is wise not to skimp on the butter! "

Since we enjoyed this dish so much, it is now included on the menu of our Woodcrafter course. Even better, we are sharing how we do this on the campfire, here via the Frontier blog.

Roast Guinea Fowl With Cabbage - Ingredients

1 guinea fowl

1 savoy cabbage

100g (3.5 oz) butter (at least)

200g (7oz) smoked streaky bacon, diced (at least)

3 Toulouse sausages, sliced (at least)

6 garlic cloves

4 onions, peeled

160ml (5.25 fl oz) white wine (at least).

N.B. We have added the modifier "at least" to a number of the ingredients here, which help with translating this dish to the Dutch-oven-over-a-campfire cooking environment, as well as giving you some leeway to bulk things out somewhat (e.g. a few more sausages) to help feed hungry outdoors people!

Brown off the bird on all slides, using a liberal amount of butter. An option at this stage is to put on the lid and roast the bird for 20-30 minutes. We've found this not necessary, though, as long as you allow sufficient cooking time and a bit more wine, later (see below). Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Next, add the bacon and sausage... Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Brown off the sausages and bacon over a steady heat for a few minutes. Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Then add some more butter (yes, more butter!). Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Now it's time for the garlic, onion and cabbage. The garlic cloves can go in whole but the onions should have been sliced and the cabbage should have had the central rib removed, then the leaves roughly chopped. Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Everything goes in the pot together, around the bird. Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Directly after you have added all the cabbage, onions and garlic, add the wine. We tend to use more than the specified 160ml of white wine as we don't pre-cook the cabbage. We effectively steam the cabbage in the Dutch oven, while the bird cooks. Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Put the Dutch oven lid onto the pot and now cook for at least an hour over a steady heat. Check regularly to make sure the cabbage is not sticking to the bottom. Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

The finished dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste. In the woods we find this dish is accompanied well by some mashed potatoes. Photo: Martin Tomlinson.

Want More Campfire Recipes Like This?

If you like this recipe, then it's definitely worth getting a copy of Reynaud's book, Rôtis. Iain explains "This book is a treasure worth seeking out. It is dedicated to the roast. The layout follows the 7 days of the week, with each day being devoted to a particular meat. There is a minor section on accompaniments, and these are also worth trying. Expedition-style camps equipped with a Dutch oven and this book are arguably in for a culinary extravaganza."

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Paul Kirtley is owner and Chief Instructor of Frontier Bushcraft. He has had a lifelong passion for the great outdoors and gains great satisfaction from helping others enjoy it too. Paul writes the UK's leading bushcraft blog as well as for various publications including Bushcraft & Survival Skills Magazine.